Wednesday, July 31, 2013

And he hath brought thee near to him, and all
thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and seek ye the priesthood also?

Korah was not satisfied with the role God had given him.

He looked for advancement

He wanted the honor of the very priesthood
and perhaps

He sought for himself the office of the
high priest

Moses' first rebuke was to remind him of the honor already awarded him,
that of being a minister in the tabernacle and to the priests.

I am reminded that in this New Testament day the priesthood belongs to
every Christian. Those who are the saved are the priests. Those who have been
called into the ministry have been given the joy of ministering to the
priests (who are the true ministers).

But some have not been satisfied with that role. They have created a new
priestly office and elevated themselves above the congregation of priests of
God.

We, of course, see this in the Catholic
Church

We find a likeness of it in almost every ProtestantChurch, especially the mainline
ones but

We are often dangerously close to it in
many Baptist circles

The denominational Baptists have surely created a priestly class of
those who presume to supervise local churches. It happens in the independent Baptist
churches, when certain well known pastors and Christian leaders become elevated
in the eyes of other pastors into a status that has nearly an unquestioned
following. We revere them because of

Their skill

Their influence and

The size of the churches they lead

and often we pay little attention to their doctrine and practice
because, well, they are beyond that. They are above that. Whatever doctrinal differences
they might have with our own understanding of the Bible can be easily overlooked
because

They are close enough to our doctrine (we
suppose, sometimes we don't really know, and they often urge us to
overlook differences in favor of being their follower)

They are successful and because

In our hearts we want that much influence,
skill and size of congregation.

Not being satisfied with the honor of ministering to the priests, we
have often unwittingly grow our own priestly system.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say
unto them, When ye come into the land whither I bring you,

It is striking
and gracious that, the very next words out of the mouth of God[1] (and repeated in verse 18),
after Israel's
failure of faith at Kadesh Barnea, is to return to giving instructions to them
about what to do when they entered the Promised Land. Their sin, though
grievous and costly, had not changed God's mind concerning them. His covenant
was sworn by Himself. He had not made the Promised Land a conditional promise.
What He had promised them was still theirs.

What grace God
has given us in salvation. It is a promise conditioned only upon Christ and
therefore is a promise that is not retracted regardless of how the possessor
might fail God. As Israel
learned, God would

Test them

Prove them and

Chasten them

They would pay
heavily for sin. But God would never take from them His promise.

So it is in
salvation. We did not receive a license to sin in our salvation. God desires
that we be made in the image of Christ and that work of conformation will
progress. But as the work progresses, and we discover our worldliness and sin
filled propensities, God, nevertheless, keeps His promise.

Monday, July 29, 2013

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene,
and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they
might come and anoint him.

"When the Sabbath was past..."

There are no accidents in the Bible. The Holy God is so infinitely wiser
than man that we cannot conceive of it has placed in His Word living truths.
Each jot and each tittle is filled with meaning.

I see in this simple phrase a subtle transition from Old Testament Law
to New Testament grace. The Old Testament Sabbath was past, finished, over and
a brand new thing was on the disciples' horizon. While they fretted over who
would roll the stone away Jesus had already removed it to reveal the tomb was
empty.

No more would these believers practice a religion that looked for hope

From this day forward they would live in the assurance of a risen Lord
and Saviour. Old things passed away. All things became new.

No longer did they look for a deliverer from the bondage of Rome

They knew the One who had delivered them from the bondage of death
itself.

No more would they cringe in the fear of judgment for sin

Their judgment had been paid on the cross and the empty tomb was the
seal that it had been paid in full.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because
of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian
woman.

And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only
by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.

I get the impression that Aaron and Miriam had a whole other problem
with Moses than whom he had married. They were more concerned with Moses' claim
that God was speaking to him in some manner different than He was to them. How
did they know that was true? God spoke to them too. What was so different about
him? They wanted some of his authority. It is the same challenge people
make all of the time with those in authority. They find something to accuse
them of so they can next try to diminish their authority and take some for
self. Churches are filled with people who find petty faults with the preacher
that they might justify not listening to him.

Marrying outside the Jewish family was an age old ban established by God
with the marriage of Isaac and confirmed in the Law. We have transposed it in
our day to not marrying (and by extension, not dating) outside of our faith. As
a general rule it is a wise piece of counsel. But there have been exceptions,
cases where the lost one was converted and, though it would have been
inadvisable for the believer to date the unbeliever; that unbeliever was later
saved and became a servant of God.

Rather than finding fault with some small issue in a servant of the Lord
it would be wiser to examine their walk with the Lord. If they have a true and
faithful relationship with God, whether you agree with every aspect of their
personal life or not, it would be foolhardy to murmur against them.

Let's get real.

The only reason we make an issue out of a minor issue is that we take
issue with the authority of the man of God.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto
the chief priests, to betray him unto them.

And when they heard it, they were glad, and
promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.

Judas sought a convenient way to betray Jesus. People who do the evil
thing seldom take a high hard road. Their lives are wrapped up in finding an
easy way. Jesus said broad is the way that leads to destruction and many find
themselves in it.

Friday, July 26, 2013

This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from
twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service
of the tabernacle of the congregation:

And from the age of fifty years they shall cease
waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more:

But shall minister with their brethren in the
tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service.
Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.

The service of
the Levites was to begin at the age of twenty five and continue until age
fifty. At that time a change takes place as those elders cease waiting "upon the service of the
tabernacle" and then
begin to "minister with their brethren in the tabernacle to keep the charge".

Jewish teachers
developed from this a system whereby:

From
twenty five to thirty the Levite was engaged in learning his work

From
thirty to fifty the Levite was engaged in performing his work

From
fifty on that Levite was placed among his other elder brethren for ministry
rather than heavy service

These ages
should not be taken as hard and fast rules as King David extended the younger
age to twenty. But it does give some guideline as to what would be considered
mature and when we would know that someone is "not a novice".

Schooling
for the ministry from between age twenty to twenty five (lasting five
years)

Serving
in some form of supervised ministry until age fifty

Ministering
as an undershepherd of the Lord (pastor) from age fifty.

In this way we
may honor the rule of Paul concerning novices and better protect the flock of
God from those who are wolves in sheep's clothing.

One might argue
against this idea by pointing out that many men aged fifty and above have
turned from the way. I would reply in many cases that can be accounted for by
the unprotected beating these men have taken because they were exposed to the
responsibilities of the pastorate while still novices.

I am not
proposing this as some hard and fast rule; "forthe letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life"[1] but as a general guideline
to prevent novices from being thrust into places of responsibility that will
harm

Thursday, July 25, 2013

And he began to speak unto them by parables. A
certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place
for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into
a far country.

And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a
servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the
vineyard.

And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him
away empty.

And again he sent unto them another servant; and
at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away
shamefully handled.

And again he sent another; and him they killed,
and many others; beating some, and killing some.

Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved,
he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.

But those husbandmen said among themselves, This
is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.

And they took him, and killed him, and cast him
out of the vineyard.

What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard
do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto
others.

This parable is so ludicrous it makes almost no sense. What steward
would ever do as these husbandmen have supposedly done? One would think that
the Lord Jesus could have come up with a more believable scenario than this to
illustrate His point.

Unless it is the unbelievable nature of the parable that illustrates the
point.

The lesson of the parable has to do with Israel's treatment of God's
messengers and finally of God's Son. In each case the Jews (and lest we think
Gentiles are better, they had long before turned from God) had done as equally
unbelievably to the servants of the Lord and would do the same to Jesus.

The attitude of the world today toward
Jesus is unbelievable - it does not make sense

The actions of men, like our current
President who says he believes in Jesus, is unbelievable - it does not
make sense.

The positions of so called Christian
denominations over the centuries is unbelievable - it does not make sense

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and
sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people
was astonished at his doctrine.

They sought to destroy him because they feared him.

Such is the way of men:

If a particular animal is dangerous to us
our first inclination is to exterminate it

If a nation of people appears to harm our
way of life we want to subdue them

If a certain practice we think might be
harmful to the environment we want to legislate against it

Modern men pretend to have progressed beyond such thinking. Ours, they
say, is an age of tolerance.

We venerate the shark, the tiger and the
bear we once were so afraid of

We revel in the re emergence of cultures
such as those of aboriginal peoples

We extol the virtues of a variety of
political ideals we once hated (or at least distrusted)

But our perceived progress is driven to a stand still in the face of
Jesus Christ. He is feared still and those who are His truest followers are
still considered a threat which must be stopped. The American experiment put up
with Christianity for a time but has now once again lifted up its sword against
the faith which

Confesses the true origin of man as being
created by God

Confronts the sin nature of man and

Condemns the lost man to eternal hell
without Christ

Men want to destroy that which they fear. And they fear few things as
much as they fear the truth of God's Word.

And if a woman shall put away her husband, and
be married to another, she committeth adultery.

And they brought young children to him, that he
should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.

Even two
thousand years ago people were trying to excuse divorce. The Pharisees
instinctively knew divorce was a negative thing and thus their questioning the
Lord concerning it. Still they sought their excuse.

The Lord's
response must be taken in context. He was not reversing Moses and the Law but
rather giving it perspective. Hearts are hard still today and so still today
divorces happen. Because of the grace of God divorce, though always tragic, may
be recovered from. Some of the greatest Christians I know, and some of the
happiest, have been through a divorce and a remarriage. Praise God for such
grace.

But this is
neither a justification of nor excuse for divorce. Jesus said that divorce is
not the original plan of God and bears consequences that may not be reversed.
Because of the grace of God, there is a provision for the hardness of the human
heart but the follower of Christ will seek a new heart and not an excuse for
his old one.

Monday, July 22, 2013

And if it be a beast, whereof men bring an
offering unto the LORD, all that any man giveth of such unto the LORD shall be
holy.

He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for
a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he shall at all change beast for beast, then
it and the exchange thereof shall be holy.

The Lord
commanded that an offering was to be accepted as it was. In being offered the
offering, whether a good one or a bad one, became holy.

Gill says that
this command that the offering could not be altered or changed was not directed
toward the priests but to the one making the offering so that he could not come
at another time and ask to change what he had offered for something else. A
person might, without this command, think twice about his gift and want to
exchange it for a more "practical" one. To prevent a person from the
temptation to exchange the offering for a lesser one but claiming it was a
better one, the priest was not to make the exchange even if the new offering
was a better one. He may add to his offering but he may not change his
offering.

The point, I
think is this, whatever we offer becomes holy to God.

Whether it be:

Our tithe

Our time

Our treasures or

Our talents

when they have
been offered to God they are his. We may not repent of our offering. We may not
take it back after thinking better of it.

I think of those who
have made promises for a certain financial gift to Gods work but want
conditions on the gift

I think of those who
have surrendered to the Lord for His ministry but have later backed out

I think of those who
have dedicated a talent such as music to God only to then have given that
talent up or sold it to the worlds goods

I think of those who
have dedicated their children to The Lord only to later encourage them
toward worldliness

I do not claim
to know what might be the consequences for altering and changing their vows but
I do suggest there are consequences.

Of course we
live in the New Testament grace and not Old Testament law. This however does
not mean that the Old Testament has neither lesson nor warning for us.

We are not saved by obedience to the Law

We are not made right with God through obedience to the Law

But the Law is
righteous and teaches principles of holiness and righteousness.

What we give to
God is God's and may not be taken back, altered for something else or changed
for something less.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and
certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.

Not everyone
who comes together around the Lord does so for good reasons.

These highly
religious and prestigious Pharisees and scribes had not come together into The
Lord to worship or to learn or to follow Jesus in the way.

They came to
find fault.

They may not
have even known what it was they would find fault with when they came, but
fault finders always find fault.

Our goal must
not be simply to gather and keep a crowd together. That sort of business may be
merely training fault finders and introducing them to one another (the scribe
and Pharisees were habitual attendees at religious events). The work of the
ministry must be to call a people

Friday, July 19, 2013

These are the statutes and judgments and laws,
which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand
of Moses.

A friend of
mine posted 2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from
heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

to an online social site and encouraged people to pray for our country.
One reader responded by pointing out that this verse was a promise to the Jews.
She said she believed we should pray but took exception to this passage being
used as a supporting scripture.

I responded with 2 Timothy 3:16-17 KJV

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good
works.

But what about those portions of the Bible that are so specifically for
the Jews?

This entire chapter, for instance, is a covenant between God and the
children of Israel.

Is there no profit for the New Testament saint?

I say there is. By understanding God's covenant with Israel we can
better understand what should be our own relationship with God. The covenant is
between God and Israel
but the principle of that covenant represents a practice that ought to be
incorporated into Christianity.

Should not a New Testament saint hearken to
the voice of God?

Should he not see chastening as a warning
to return from his backsliding?

Should he not take courage that, though
hemisphere chastened yet for all of this God will not forget him?

All Scripture is indeed profitable. We of course must rightly divide it,
but rightly divided, every Word serves to thoroughly furnish the saint unto
every good work.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall
proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the
LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings,
every thing upon his day:

Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your
gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which
ye give unto the LORD.

This chapter consists of the feasts the Jews were to observe as a part
of their worship of the Lord. Every aspect of their worship had significance so
every aspect was to be kept. The feasts were more than celebrations, they were
lessons played out in life. And they were to be kept,

Beside the Sabbaths of the LORD, and

Beside your gifts, and beside all your
vows, and

Beside all your freewill offerings, which
ye give unto the LORD

In other words, do these and all the rest too.

I think I have met a lot of Christians who think of their faith as a
heap of events piled on them one after the other. They look at living for
Christ as a burden. They cannot see the benefit of observing all things whatsoever
Jesus commanded. They want to have a little piece of the Christian life but
they don't want to add all these other pieces on beside them.

But Christianity, real Christianity is an all or nothing thing.

Ask The apostles who left all to follow the
Lord

Ask the martyrs who lost their lives
because they believed

Ask the Anabaptists who suffered brutality
and death rather than surrender their faith

Real Christianity is not this "one or two drops of salvation in a
solution of worldliness" blend we see practiced so frequently today.

May God wake us up to realize that Christianity is more than a few
festivals through the year; it is a complete change of life in favor of the
yoke of Jesus Christ.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I
will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow
you,

I was struck by the bluntness of this passage; "but I will be hallowed".

God offers no options for His own. He expects that they who are the
children of God will not profane His name in disobedience to His
commandments.

We, of course, live in this age of New Testament grace.

We do not keep the Law for salvation

Many of the ordinances of the Old Testament
law were nailed to the cross and are of no effect today (we do not offer
sacrifices)

But this gives us no liberty to take the things of God as lightly as
they are often taken today. The times of ignorance God winked at were those Old
Testament Law days. He now commands all men to repent.

God will be hallowed among His children. They will not profane His name
through wicked, worldly and disobedient rebellion against His Word.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

And when his friends heard of it, they went out
to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

Some friends
these are.

The
commentaries suggest that these are Jesus' family and towns people from Nazareth, those that had
grown up with and around Him who, hearing that Jesus had begun this ministry,
were convinced of the Jews that He was mentally deranged and thus tried to stop
Him and detain Him. No doubt they would have believed this was "for His
own good.”

Well meaning
but worldly minded friends are often the first to attempt to prevent the
zealous follower of Christ from God’s purpose for his life.

A parent who has
dreams for his child's profession

A sibling who is
jealous of the devotion to Jesus

A childhood friend who
thinks it strange they will no longer do those things they once did

The Christian
faith is so foreign to this world that those of the world believe it to be
insane. Indeed, as the days progress many more saints will be no doubt
"laid hold of" and accused of being beside themselves.

Monday, July 15, 2013

And bringeth it not unto the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the
tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed
blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people:

The taking of
the life of an animal was such a momentous act that it was never to be done
lazily or in a flippant way. Whether the animal was slain inside the camp or
out in the field the blood was to be brought as an offering to The Lord. There
was no animal to be killed as "common food" but every animal taken
was to be viewed as an offering to God.

Barnes observes
that this strict observance would have been rendered impossible after Israel
settled in the Promised Land. But the reverence for life could have always been
preserved by viewing every animal slain as being an offering to God and viewing
every meal partaken from that animal as being a gift from God.

I see in this
chapter the tendency of man to let slip the importance of the details of
worship. I heard about a young man I have acquaintance with who was recently
confronted with changes happening in his church. His response was that he did
not care about the details of the services as long as people were being saved.
That attitude pervades Christianity right now. We have taken it upon ourselves
to be the soul winners (rather than seeing that as the work of God) and as a
result we have watched doctrine become secondary to decisions being made. I
rather believe that the gospel truth is in living out true doctrine and
allowing that the Holy Spirit is more than able to bring souls to a saving
knowledge. Our witness, in other words, is our living out the truth and not our
confrontational soul winning.[1]

[1]
I do not mean to say we should not practice
confrontational soul winning. It is obvious from Scripture that we must so
speak that people believe. I only mean to say that soul winning is secondary
and a result of living out the gospel. It is not a replacement for obedient
Christian living.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his
hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.

When a man is
as desperate as was this leper, the words, "I will" sound very sweet. Here is the balance
between the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. Multitudes of lepers
lived in Jesus' day but many of them, most of them were not cleansed because
they never sought cleansing from the Lord. This leper knew his cleansing was
completely of the Lord. He could not do it himself. He had no secret, no merit.
no action he could employ to aide in his own healing. But He knew Jesus needed
none of that. It was solely of His own will.

And Jesus said
"I will".

Many people,
most, never come to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ because most never
come to seek it of Christ. It is not a matter of His being unwilling; He would
have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. It is
rather completely because they never come to ask it of Him.

All those who
come believing He can save them if He wills it find that He always says,
"I will."

His Name Is Jesus

About Me

I was born in the Pacific Northwest and have lived the majority of my life right here. I became a Christian at the age of 18. God has allowed me to pastor Baptist churches in Washington and Oregon for the better part of 30 years. I have also enjoyed the opportunity to serve as the executive vice president of Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in San Dimas, CA and move with the college to become Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma City, OK.